On the site of what are now Brook Insurance and Mergele's Jewelers was once a splendid new department store for downtown Beeville. Montgomery-Ward established their Store No. 460 here in November 1929. Carrying everything from clothing for both sexes of all ages, tires and accessories, furniture, the Monkey-Ward Store (as it came to be called) was a real addition to Beeville business. But the catalog business came along and took over many of Ward's retail outlets in smaller communities, and the local store was closed, to be replaced by the catalog store on St. Mary's St.